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The date was late February 1898.

The place was the gold-mining camp at Hahn's Peak, which was the county seat of government for Routt County. The county jail was at "The Peak," as was the office of County Sheriff Charles W. Neiman.

Sheriff Neiman had just received a warrant issued by Justice of the Peace J.S. Hoy of Lodore Precinct, asking for the arrest of two accused Brown's Park cattle thieves: John "Judge" Bennett and P.L. "Pat" Johnstone. The thieves reportedly were furnishing stolen beef to workers at the Bromide Copper Mine and Smelter on Douglas Mountain.

And so Neiman departed via cutter sleigh on the 120-mile trip to what was then the western reaches of Routt County - now Moffat County. Charlie was completely familiar with that area, having formerly been employed there as foreman of the Ell Seven Cattle Company.

In Craig, Charlie picked up Undersheriff Ethan Allen Farnham. At Lay, the pair transferred to a buckboard for lack of sufficient snow for sledding. The night was spent at Cross Mountain, at the Boyd Vaughan ranch some 40 miles from Brown's Park.

The next morning, Vaughan decided he'd go along in hopes of recovering some missing horses he thought had been taken to Brown's Park by thieves. Entering the park, the three spied a trio of horsemen leading a pack animal and heading toward Douglas Mountain - and to all appearances, trying to avoid contact with others.

Although the sheriff suspected these were the men he was looking for, he deemed it wise to continue to his agreed point of rendezvous - the Bassett Ranch - rather than attempt to follow the horsemen through the brush in the buckboard.

At the Bassett Ranch were three people: old Herb Bassett, an old trapper (name unknown) and a young fellow named Strang. Here, the sheriff learned that a week before, soon after the warrant had been mailed to Hahn's Peak, Johnstone had murdered Strang's 15-year-old brother, Willie. The killing had occurred on property belonging to J.S. Hoy's brother, Valentine.

Because the death was across the Wyoming line, authorities in Rock Springs were notified. A deputy from there had led a posse on several days of searching for Johnstone, to no avail, and had given up and left.

In the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 28, a fair-sized posse had assembled at the Bassett Ranch. The man-hunt proceeded at daylight on the trail of the fugitives.

But the tracks they followed didn't immediately take the route usually used by thieves. Instead, the tracks led more to the west, as though perhaps the suspects had intended to cross Green River and take the most direct route to the Utah line, over Diamond Mountain. Or, perhaps the outlaws thought any possible pursuers would naturally strike off up the rocky mountainside on the old trail, and thus be thrown "off the scent."

At any rate, the posse had gone but a short distance when they surprised the thieves in their night's resting place, less than a quarter-mile above the mouth of Lodore Canyon.

All evidence indicated a very hasty departure. A campfire was still smoldering and all four horses stood tied among cedars. Camp gear, provisions, and all three men's blankets were still there. All that had been taken, besides their firearms, was part of a sack of flour that one fellow had presence of mind enough to grab as they went scrambling into the rimrocks.

Sheriff Neiman realized that to follow those men up into the rocks meant exposing his posse to certain bloodshed. On the other hand, to leave the outlaws without horses, bedding, or food meant no possible chance for the men to escape without exposing themselves.

Editor's note: This is the third in a four-part series of classic Bill May writings. The series concludes Jan. 28, after which the Pilot will retire his weekly column. The following was first published in the Steamboat Pilot on Feb. 9, 1989.